Bellissima welcomes Nick Sandys as Future Perfect Director for our June 2022 Chicago Premiere

Nick Sandys is an award-winning actor, director, and fight choreographer, as well as an educator, based in Chicago. He was a founding ensemble member of Remy Bumppo Theatre Company in 2002, and served as Artistic Director from 2012-2021. He is also an Artistic Associate at First Folio Theatre and is adjunct faculty at The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Nick has performed in over 150 theatrical productions nationwide, including at many of Chicago’s leading theaters–Goodman, Lookingglass, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Northlight, etc.– as well as at numerous regional Shakespeare festivals. He has received 9 Joseph Jefferson Nominations for his acting work, most recently for his performance as Sherlock Holmes in the Mercury Theater’s world premiere musical The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes in 2016.

Nick has directed productions at Lyric Opera of Chicago (Elektra 2019), Houston Grand Opera, First Folio, Eclipse, Noble Fool Theatricals, Chamber Opera Chicago, Fort Worth Shakespeare in the Park, Stage West, Circle Theatre (TX), as well as for Remy Bumppo, where his work has received a further 3 Joseph Jefferson Nominations, most recently for a world premiere adaptation of Forster’s Howards End in 2019. 

Nick is also a certified Fight Director and Combat Teacher with The Society of American Fight Directors and has been adjunct faculty at The Theatre School at DePaul University since 1995. His Jeff-award-winning fight direction has been seen all over Chicagoland, at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, as well as on Broadway, at The Metropolitan Opera (NYC), and regionally. 

Nick has received a Meier Foundation 2011 Artistic Achievement Award, a Joseph Jefferson Award for Fight Choreography and some 16  ‘Jeff’ nominations, a Leon Sabin/Dallas Theater Critics Award, and was a 2018 Audie Finalist for his audiobook narration of Dracula. He holds MAs in English Literature from both Cambridge University and Loyola University Chicago (PhD ABD). ​